Mobile and handheld computing devices are ubiquitous through most of the world. As of early 2013, for example, nearly 1 billion smartphones had been purchased worldwide. Increasingly, these mobile and handheld computing devices are utilized for services other than making phone calls, including storing and playing music, taking photographs, tracking motion, location, and activity, and playing games, among many other services. As a result, software applications for mobile and handheld computing devices are similarly ubiquitous. As of late 2014, for example, more than 100 billion mobile applications (also called “apps”) had been downloaded worldwide. Total worldwide mobile app revenue has been nearly USD 35 billion, and is expected to continue to rise.
Although adults are the primary users of mobile and handheld computing devices, children are a growing market in the app industry. A recent survey concluded that more than 50% of all children ages 0-8 in the United States have access to a mobile device, while another study found that nearly 66% of children ages 4-7 had stated that they had used an iPhone® while riding in an automobile. Accordingly, children are increasingly exposed to and using mobile and handheld computing devices, and there are many thousands of apps that target children specifically.
Although apps targeted at children can be beneficial and educational, use of an adult's mobile or handheld computing device can introduce significant issues, including but not limited to: (i) accidental deletion of software; (ii) accidental relocation of items; (iii) changing of one or more settings; and (iv) access to inappropriate software. Young children, for example, while able to manipulate and navigate the devices quite well, do not readily grasp the differences between games and other more important items. Anything is interesting and worth exploring, and as a result anything can be lost or damaged. Children can easily reorder the app locations on the screen, open undesired apps, change settings, answer phone calls, send text messages, and/or delete voicemails or entire apps, among many other undesirable outcomes.
Unfortunately, most mobile and handheld computing devices do not come with a setting or settings that either prohibits a User's access to particular settings or programs, or that only allows access to particular settings or programs. Once a User has access to full operation of the mobile or handheld computing device, the User is essentially free to make any changes or access any program or option. Although some mobile computing devices can be retro-fitted with a device that blocks one or more buttons on the device (such as the “home” button on an iPhone), these devices are bulky and only keep a User locked into a single app. There is no way to quickly and easily switch between apps, or allow access to a subset of apps, when using these access-blocking devices.
Accordingly, there is a continued need for methods and systems that allow a User to switch between authorized apps while preventing access to non-authorized apps, settings, and other locations or programs within mobile and handheld computing devices.